What It Takes®

It’s undisputed: Andrew Lloyd Webber has written more blockbuster musicals than any composer alive. He talks here about falling in love with musical theater in the 1950’s, and about writing his first hit at the age of 19 (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat).  He also reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, and Broadway’s longest running show (by far): The Phantom of the Opera.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

She is a Renaissance Person extraordinaire: a lawyer, an inventor, a biotech innovator, a futurist, a transgender activist, and one of the most successful female CEO's of all time.  Martine Rothblatt talks here about founding Sirius/XM radio. She talks about how her daughter's terminal illness led her to develop a treatment, as well as a biotech company to manufacture it (saving thousands of lives so far). She describes her newest missions -- developing an endless supply of transplantable organs, and the electric helicopter technology to deliver them. She explains why she's been able to accomplish such wildly varied things in her life (she's also an amateur musician, pilot & astronomer), and why she refers to herself as transcender rather than transgender.  She  also lays out her vision for the not-so-distant future, when humans, she says, will be capable of digitizing their consciousness and doubling the capacity of their minds. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

He is one of the most compelling storytellers of our time... a novelist who addresses broad societal themes while plumbing the depths of intimate human relationships. Ian McEwan, the author of "Atonement," "Amsterdam" and recently, "Machines Like Me," talks here about beautifully constructed sentences. He explains the "pleasure principle" of literature. And in describing how much research it takes to create his characters, he tells a delightful story about the time he was mistaken for a neurosurgeon. He also talks about a deep family secret - a brother he didn't know existed until he was in his 50's. McEwan reads passages from "Atonement," and from his new novel "Machines Like Me." And he talks about the need for solitude in a writer's life.You can see the Academy of Achievement's video archives at www.achievement.org. #WhatItTakesNow(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

Africa's preeminent writer, and one of its greatest advocates for democracy and justice, talks here about the activism that landed him in solitary confinement for two years during Nigeria's civil war. Wole Soyinka was the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He describes here his life growing up under British colonial rule, and explains why his favorite form of literary expression is theater.www.achievement.org#whatittakesnow(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

One of the most significant revolutions in science is underway, and yet most people haven't even heard of it. It's called CRISPR, and it is an easy, inexpensive process for cutting and pasting DNA - the code of life. It is already being used in human trials to cure genetic disease, and it promises to transform agriculture, with drought-resistant crops that will better feed the world. But it also threatens to usher in a frightening era of designer babies and unintended consequences. The two lead scientists behind CRISPR, Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang, talk here about their lives and their research, and they sound the alarm about the dangers of their own discovery. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

She was a Maori child from a working class family, who grew up by the sea in a remote New Zealand town... So how did Kiri Te Kanawa rise to become one of the greatest sopranos of all time? She tells the story here, starting with a vision her mother had of her singing at Covent Garden, a vision that became a reality. She also tells the hair-raising tale of her accidental debut at the Met; she was given just three hours notice, but it turned her into an international opera superstar, overnight.  And she describes with great amusement, her invitation to sing at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

When Amy Tan wrote her first book, The Joy Luck Club, she was trying to portray the difficult relationship she had had with her mother, a Chinese immigrant to the United States, and the emotional voyage they took to understand each other. But the novel struck a universal chord, and it became a massive bestseller, launching Amy Tan’s career as a literary superstar. Tan talks here candidly about the traumas in her life (the death of both her father and her brother when she was 15), and about the unusual path she took to start writing fiction at the age of 33.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

This is the story of a working class son of Manchester, England, who came to change skylines around the globe, envision a future for architecture that is in harmony with the environment, and design solutions to the most pressing problems of the world’s poor. In his 50 years as an architect, Norman Foster has designed an abundance of iconic buildings & sites, including the Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, London’s “Gherkin” and City Hall, Hong Kong’s Check Lap Kok Airport, Berlin’s new Reichstag Building and New York’s Hearst Tower. He talks here about falling in love with architecture before he knew what it was. And he describes designing modern spaces that encourage community, and uplift the humans who use them.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

Toni Morrison was a novelist and Nobel Prize Winner, who carved a space for African-American women’s voices and stories. Hal Prince was a producer & director, who had a hand in shaping Broadway for over five decades. These two giants of American culture recently died, just days apart. In 2007 they shared a stage and regaled young leaders with lessons they’d learned over the course of their storied careers. On this special episode, we play their inspiring talks.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019

Peter Jackson grew up in a country without any film industry or film schools, and yet, he only ever wanted to do one thing: make movies. The story of how he came to direct The Lord of the Rings (and Heavenly Creatures, The Hobbit, King Kong, and They Shall Not Grow Old) is both improbable and inspiring. He tells the story here of how he quit school to earn enough money for a 16 millimeter camera, and then, while learning to use it, inadvertently created his first feature length film -- a gory, sci fi comedy that landed him at the Cannes Film Festival. Jackson also describes what an audacious and unlikely idea it was that he, a New Zealander who made campy “splatter movies” as he calls them, would get the rights and the funding to turn the Lord of the Rings into a film trilogy. But the Rings of Power were clearly on his side. They were three of the most technically sophisticated and highest earning films of all time.(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2019